Being an artist and being a mother: a binomial that is still difficult to manage today, especially in an art-like system that covers more include, and where the market is almost always dominated by male artists. And yet there are those who want their voices to be heard, such as the group of artists Glorious Mothers: Born in Times quarantine (a moment that puts parenting to the test), the collective has the intention to initiate a dialogue and comparison (also open to male artists) about what it means to be a woman, an artist and a mother today in Italy. We talked to them to find out more about the project.

Glorious mothers

How was The Glorious Mothers born and who is it made up of?

The Glorious Mothers were unofficially born during the first quarantine as a support and comparison between mothers of artistslocked at home with their daughters and sons and having difficulty returning to work. Subsequently, it was created as a group to discuss and compare parental experience, extended to artistic research, with an attempt to go (think and act) beyond stereotypes, pre-established canons, prejudices and biases associated with the heteroregulated institution of the family. We are mostly visual artists, but each of us uses the means of expression that we consider suitable for our practice, even very different ones from each other. The group currently consists of Sarah Basta, Cristina Cusani, Grossi Maglioni (Francesca Grossi and Vera Maglioni), Mariana Ferratto, Caterina Pecchioli, Jonida Prifty, Daphne Salis and Miriam Secco. Recently group it expands as new people join. The history of origin, as well as the geographical area in which we now live, is very extensive: from Berat to Varese to Naples, the group consists of the most active female artists with exhibitions in Italy and abroad (for example, winners of the Italian Council), artists whose careers are just beginning and then interrupted due to motherhood or slowly recovering between jobs. random (but necessary) and personal vicissitudes associated with the difficulties of raising daughters and sons, in some cases alone. While we are mostly dealing with artist mothers and the discrimination we face in the systemart, we believe that some themes are also common to other sectors or to those who could not or did not want to have children as a result of work and social pressure in the art system. That’s why our group is open to anyone who shares our opinion.

What are the problems of being a mother and an artist in Italy?

As mothers, each with their own experiences, we realized how this new state meant leaving the world. Job. Since there is no financial recognition or compensation in our industry, the artist is in danger of motherhood to the fullest. loneliness and can only rely on his own strength and ability to support himself. Of course, the problem lies upstream: there is currently no ATECO code for fine arts. Institutions, museums and galleries often work with artists without contracts, and when they do, they are inadequate as they seek to protect work instead of men and women. Lack of contracts and a flat tax system creates problems by effectively denying any assistance or protection: you are not entitled to sickness, unemployment/break or pension leave motherhood or fatherhood.

How do you see the future of artists in our country? What would be your formula to break gender stereotypes?

We aim for a changing future where we share the challenges care. We believe that there is no absolute formula to meet the various needs of people. A continuous dialogue must be opened to redefine responses to the needs of all actors. In particular, a gender gap is still evident in the art system, both in terms of the presence of men in museums and galleries and in the economic value attributed to works. Among the world’s highest paid living artists (Jeff Koons and Jenny Saville) there is an 85 percent difference in the value attributed by the market to their works. Thanks to the activism and investigations carried out several times over the years (1985 and 2014) by the feminist collective partisans, we know that the disparity in the presence of men in exhibitions compared to women, non-binary and racial, is still very large. In fact, until female subjectivity is fully legitimized, it will be difficult to recognize its real value. Moreover, until our society is confronted with cultural revolution on the issue of care, recognizing not only the consequences within the social and community system, but also recognizing the economic value (support/protection) for those who do it (men and women), female emancipation will always be partial. We hope that best practices will be activated, allowing us to Job all people are the same. For example, parental leave paid at 90% or 100% would be a good measure to encourage fathers to share the care aspect. In Italy, we must start by creating a general support for women artists along the French and Dutch model. Studios with subsidized rent should be created, grant (like starting salary Dutch and base salary) so that female artists at various stages of their careers have a mandatory minimum to devote to research and production, which will be increased at certain stages such as pregnancy or paternity. We want to take the initiative to introduce new forms of collaboration and exchange between artist parents and artists. The workshops, as well as coexistence, proved to be moments of intense exchange during which we reflected on the themes of care and motherhood through artistic practice.